Page 8 of Holiday with the Aliens

But for the moment, she had to be a responsible adult whose brain hadn’t turned to mush with want. Kiki was still on the ship, and it felt weird to have these thoughts when the kid was around somewhere. Not like she could read Ro’s mind, but still. She’d noticed that Kiki had a way of looking at a person as if she could see under their skin. Was Lee going to be like that?

Kids. Weird.

As Ro headed out of her quarters to go join Dash in the cockpit, she heard Kiki yelp and turned, heading toward the girl’s room instead of her intended destination. Kiki was sprawled out on her bed, her bag having seemed to explode open.

“You starting a career as a smuggler?” Ro asked, leaning against the door. “I think you’re still a bit young.”

Kiki rolled to her side and sat back up. “My stuff won’t fit. I didn’t add anything, but I can’t get the bag closed.”

She spoke with a quiet earnestness, and Ro wondered if that was normal for children or if Kiki was a special case. “Need some help?” She could see rolls of clothes and a shoe; presumably the rest was somehow jammed into the bag. The kid was clearly smart, but she hadn’t learned the finer points of packing.

Kiki nodded and scooped up a couple of pieces of clothing that had fallen to the floor. She piled it all in the suitcase and tried to shut it. “I almost have it.”

Ro had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. “I don’t think so, kiddo. We might get it latched, but all your clothes will get wrinkled and it’s all going to explode out of the case when you open it again.”

The girl sighed and flipped the case back open. “So what am I supposed to do?”

“Lay all your clothes out in a single layer. Then we’re going to roll them all up.” Traveling so much for work made packing second nature, and there was something oddly satisfying about teaching someone else to do something so simple.

“Don’t we have to fold them?” Kiki flattened a shirt as she asked.

“Rolling is easier than folding, andIthink it saves space, though some have disagreed. Those people are wrong.” Ro’s tone got arch as she said it, and Kiki giggled. They spent a few more minutes packing up clothes, and when they were done, stuffing in shoes and other odds and ends along the perimeter of her bag, it closed easily. Ro lifted it off the bed and set it on the ground with a thump. “How can you carry that, kid? It’s got to weigh as much as you!”

Kiki rolled her eyes. “I’m strong. And it’s notthatheavy.”

“We’re approaching Moon Base Alpha,” Dash’s voice cut in over the speaker. “Buckle in for our final descent.”

Ro wanted to rush up to sit with Dash, but the part of her that was excited to go see her nephew for the first time in years didn’t want to just abandon Kiki. She held out a hand. “Want to go sit in the cockpit with Dash? He said it’s cool to watch the landing.”

Kiki latched onto her and they went to the cockpit, where Dash greeted both of them with a smile that made Ro’s heart flip. When he looked at her like that, the lust between them felt likesomething more. Something she’d be scared to name if she could identify it. She’d dated before, but none of those men had made her feel a fraction of what the gentle captain had made her feel in just a few days of flirtation and promise. How was that possible?

She strapped in and let Kiki take the seat closer to Dash since it had a better view. “How long are we stopping for?” Ro asked. They were so close to Earth she could practically taste it, and she’d caught sight of the big blue marble as they started their lunar orbit.

“At least a night,” Dash said, and he had the sense to grimace. “The ship needs fuel and maintenance, and I know the mechs on the lunar base. We’re not cleared for Earth entry for another two days, anyway, so it makes sense to get this done while we’re here.”

Ro could throw a fit, but it wouldn’t get them on Earth any faster. Entry to the planet had to be scheduled, and she didn’t want to risk mechanical failure slowing them down any more. So she nodded and tried to keep her disappointment in check. Maybe if she called May from the moon, her sister would believe she was actually going to make it home in time.

Yeah, right.

They watched out the view screen as the buildings for Lunar Base Alpha came into view. It wasn’t much to see at first, just the suggestion of a few globes and tunnels connected to each other. But as they got closer, Ro saw vehicles zipping around and people in lunar suits out on the dusty moon. The exterior of the moon wasn’t livable, but the bases were terraformed and provided most of the necessary food and water for the inhabitants and guests of the several permanent bases. Ro had seen brochures advertising vacations at another lunar base, but she’d never wanted to go. Mars had its own moons and one was just as good as another, as far as she was concerned.

But Kiki was practically vibrating in her seat at what she saw. Though it might have been the fact that they were so close to her family, rather than the moon itself. From what she’d heard, it had been months since the girl had seen her parents in person.

It took a few minutes to land and dock, and the second Dash gave the okay, Kiki was out of her seat and sprinting back to her room to get her bag.

“You’d never know she was on Mars because of an illness,” said Ro. “She’s a ball of energy today.”

Dash smiled wide, and his eyes almost seemed to glow. “It’s an exciting day. You might want to pack an overnight bag. The maintenance crew will most likely kick us off the ship overnight. I’ll cover the cost of a room on the base for you since we didn’t agree to this beforehand.” He unhooked his own harness and stood.

Ro reached out and grabbed his hand. “I’m sure we can make do with one room between the two of us.”

Somehow his smile got even wider. “I have to take Kiki to her parents. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

“I’ll be ready.”

Good cheer buzzed all around Dash, and if he felt any more, he might just start spontaneously flying. Which was bad. People weren’t supposed to fly without the help of machines.Bad buck. No.Kiki’s parents had been waiting at the terminal, and the minute the girl saw them, she’d dropped her bag and taken off sprinting. One of her mothers crouched low and held out her arms, and Kiki had jumped into them. Her other mother waited until the first woman stood with Kiki in her embrace and thenwrapped her arms around both of them. They glowed with cheer, or they would have if it was something Dash saw rather than felt.

Energy buzzed in his veins, and he wanted to run up and hug them all. The two women had been working hard on the base to make sure their daughter could have the best medical treatment the solar system could provide, and now Kiki was close to being healthy and they’d all get to spend the holidays together. It almost couldn’t get any better than that.

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